Month: July 2011

-Some additional, more specific thoughts that I couldn’t fit into the column, which deals mainly with the general sense and rhythm of Jim Harbaugh’s first 49ers training camp…

* I mention Joe Staley’s praise of No. 1 pick Aldon Smith towards the end of the column, but I’ll add that Smith is quite a physical presence out there.

In two days, I rarely saw him drop back into coverage–and he certainly didn’t look too smooth doing it in the few times I witnessed.

But Smith is a born passrusher and I’d be very stunned if he’s not immediately the 49ers’ best sack man since Andre Carter… and Smith looks like he could be better than Carter eventually.

When he worked in the 1-on-1 passrush drill, Smith used those propellor arms to leverage inside, to bullrush and, most effectively, to get on the tackle’s outside shoulder and whoosh around the edge.

That’s a three-way rush, which Staley noted is particularly tough for a tackle to prepare for.

* Colin Kaepernick is getting a ton of reps, with no signs yet that he’s tiring, and the ball just flies out of his hand.

He’s got the deep post route down, and he can throw it with gusto even when the defense moves him around in the pocket (though they’re not allowed to touch the QB or even get near his throwing motion).

But you can tell Kaepernick sometimes wants to force it in there–on one throw late today, Reggie Smith pounced from the deep-safety spot to pick off the pass.

* The offense could really use Frank Gore… and he’s coming, which the 49ers confirmed after Matt Maiocco’s scoopage report this evening.

* There were lots of QB-center snap issues in the two days I watched.

That could partly be on Kaepernick, who rarely took snaps under center at Nevada. It could partly be Adam Snyder’s transition over to replace David Baas.

49ers fans don’t have to like or agree with any of these reasons, and I don’t agree with several of them myself.

In fact, 1 or 2 of them theoretically contradict each other, though the 49ers’ brass probably doesn’t utter it that way inside closed doors. (To be clear: These are mostly my interpretations of why they’re doing this, not necessarily their stated explanations.)

End result: The 49ers are experiencing far more free agent losses in the first F/A week than they are picking up gains, and this was not an extraordinarily talented roster to begin with.

So the 49ers fan wrath is not a shocker, though Twitter sure has made it more raucous.

But there are explanations for why 49ers management has taken such a–in their own words–“patient” approach to the start of free agency, even to the point of readily accepting the loss of several of last year’s starters.

You don’t have to like them. You don’t have to think this is the way to revitalize a downtrodden franchise.

But this is why the 49ers are taking their time amid the frenzy (and Trent Baalke is correct, they’re not the only ones, though are probably the only ones suffering decent losses while not adding players while also sitting on an 8-season run of no playoffs and trying to land a new stadium)…

* Reason No. 1: Ownership believes the team was badly under-coached by Mike Singletary last year and that Jim Harbaugh’s staff immediately makes them a contender in the soft NFC West.
This cannot be repeated enough: Jed York paid Harbaugh $25M to back up that thought, and this is not a franchise exactly rolling in dough.

Just the switch-out of Harbaugh for Singletary, many 49ers execs believe, should get them near the .500 mark.

Give 49ers GM Trent Baalke credit for at least showing up to answer the questions, though he didn’t provide many fulfilling answers.

Baalke, under some fire from fans for the 49ers’ listless start to free-agency, which also has included several key losses and Frank Gore’s holdout, spoke to a handful of us at the end of this afternoon’s practice.

We asked him about the possibility of adding Plaxico Burress, about any kind of Gore update, about the team’s level of interest in Nnamdi Asomugha before Asomugha agreed to sign with Philadelphia.

Baalke was not too interested in answering those specific questions.

But he spoke at length about the team’s original plan to be patient in free agency, about sticking to that plan, and suggested that the newness of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure plus Baalke’s GM tenure is leading to some inevitable change-over in the roster.

He said he understands that fans might be getting frustrated with the events of the last few days and that they don’t want to wait another few days or weeks for the 49ers to land useful free agents at a better price.

Baalke said that he and Harbaugh and the front office will only be judged by whether their plan was, in the end, successful or not.

Baalke also said there may be a time for the 49ers to be aggressive. Just not now.

He’s getting heat right now. At least he showed up. And he’s right–he won’t be judged by the quality of name he brings in, but by the quality of football he and Harbaugh produce.

So we wait.

—-TRENT BAALKE gaggle transcript/

-Q: There are reports that Plaxico Burress is on his way here. Is that accurate?

-BAALKE: Like we’ve said all the time, we’re not going to talk about what our plan is or who’s coming, who’s not coming. That’s up to you guys to determine.

NBA’s in a lockout, NFL’s gone free-agent crazy, but still are some things to toss in on the Warriors… Here or there…

* Checked in with Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob a little while ago to see where things stood on his revamped management staff, particularly at the top, after the departure of team president Robert Rowell.

The update:

-The search for a new president is in the “recruiting process,” Lacob said. In the meantime, Lacob is handling the CEO and president roles.

New CFO Marty Glick is strictly that–CFO–and will not be serving any president-functions, Lacob said.

-The refurbishment of the team’s HQ in downtown Oakland is well under way and should be completed by the end of August.

-Lacob stressed that he’s doing a total overhaul of the organization, much of it we’ve already seen and some of it about to happen in the coming months.

In the days before the start of free agency, the 49ers did a decent job of setting a nice low bar for public expectations.

They might have had other ideas, but the 49ers were not pounding the drums about them.

GM Trent Baalke said they wouldn’t be major players in F/A. Owner Jed York
seconded that. We didn’t hear from Jim Harbaugh about free agency at all.

So it was quite logical to conclude that they wouldn’t be in the Nnamdi Asomugha sweepstakes–I don’t think they thought they’d be in it, either– and therefore couldn’t really be blasted if they didn’t get him.

49ers fans might not have loved the concept, but they were certainly warned.

But then 49ers management heard Asomugha might want to stay in the Bay Area, so the 49ers got involved–hard to argue with that, if they had a sliver of a shot of getting the best cornerback in the game for a potential discount price.

Looks like the 49ers are not going to get him, as reported by Mike Lombardi this morning.

And really, the 49ers–no playoffs since 2002, uncertain QB situation, new coach, old stadium–were always facing long odds in the Nnamdi hunt.

He’s 30 and has a strong desire to make a Super Bowl run. The 49ers are not making a Super Bowl run in the near future.

Again, I’m not criticizing the 49ers for checking on Asomugha… or for getting their fans’ hopes so high.

Nnamdi Asomugha is taking a lot longer to find and decide on a free-agent landing than I originally expected, which has been a boon for Twitter frenzy but not so much for clarity and hard facts.

He hasn’t yet signed with the Jets or Texans. Or Philadelphia, Dallas or Name Your Team.

He’s Nnamdi: Anything is possible, with the presumed exception of him returning to the Raiders (right?).

So… Yes, I’ve heard from a few (or bazillion) 49ers fans on the Asomugha front.

Yes, it sounds like there have been discussions between Asomugha and the 49ers, and yes, the reported release of expensive CB Nate Clements does free up a lot of room for a Nnamdi offer.

Yes, it may be true that Asomugha likes being based in the Bay Area, so he’s giving the 49ers an extra shot simply because of that.

And the longer this thing goes on… the more things there are to factor into this, because it only gets more and more complicated–for Asomugha and all the teams that are involved and the ones that still might get involved

Because everything’s inter-related:

* Asomugha’s choice of teams–I think the Jets remain at the top of his wishlist, if they come up with enough money and I think the 49ers are a fall-back position;